Cartridge-feeding device



B. B. MULVEY.

CARTRIDGE FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 1519.

1 3 1 4,0 1 3 Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET l.

B. B. M ULVEY.

CARTRIDGE FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 1919.

1 ,3 1 4,01 3 Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET Z.

B. B. MULVEY.

CARTRIDGE F'EEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-411919.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3 gave-"kw 6W 3. ub-Lula BERNARD B. MULVEY, 9]? NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

CARTRIDGE-FEEDING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

Application filed January 4, 1919. Serial No. 269,680.

To all whom it mayconcem:

Be it known that I, BERNARD B. MULVEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in New Haven, county of New Haven, and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cartridge- Feeding Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates more particularly to a feeding device adapted to be applied to automatic fire-arms in order to automatimagazine of the fire-arm its cartridge feed-' ing device, which has a relatively small capacity, and inserting in place thereof the delivery end of my cartridge feeding de vice herein disclosed which automatically feeds a relatively large number of cartridges to the barrel of the fire-arm.

Still another object of my invention is'to provide a cartridge containing receptacle with simple but reliable means for feeding cartridges therefrom to the barrel of the fire-arm upon which the receptacle is mounted.

Under normal conditions it is not desirable to fire more than several shots in rapid succession from the automatic pistol or rifle now in general use, but under certain conditions, such as when an attack is being made or repelled, in warfare, it is extremely desirable to be able to fire a large number of shots from a fire-arm without having to stop to reload the same. My invention is, therefore, designed particularly to be quickly mounted upon an automatic fire-arm when the person using the fire-arm is preparing for very active fight in order that a large number of shots may be fired from the weapon without reloading the same.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a wellknown type of automatic pistol having my cartridge feeding device applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of my cartridge feeding device removed from its pistol.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the device shown in Fig. 2, the lid of the receptacle being shown opened.

Fig. L is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 14 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of part of the structure shown in Fig. 2, most of the cartridges having been removed from the feeding belt.

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view of parts shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a side and edge view of a detail of my invention, and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary side elevation of a modification of my invention.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings, I have illustrated a well known type of automatic pistol, designated in its entirety by the numeral 10, and have shown the preferred embodiment of my cartridge feeding device secured to the butt of this pistol. The type of pistol herein illustrated is commonly-provided with a magazine tube, (not shown),

which is housed in the stock of the istol and is adapted to contain several cartridges and to automatically feed the same to the barrel of the pistol. In order to provide a device for automatically feeding a relatively large number of cartridges to the type of pistol illustrated in Fig. 1, which may be used in place of the magazine tube, just mentioned, I have provided a cartridge containing re- 'ceptacle deslgnated in its entirety by the nmrfial 11 and to the upper end of this reeptacle is secured a conduit 12, which is very similar in construction and operation to the magazine tube, above mentioned, in that it is adapted to be slidably mounted in the stock 13 of the pistol 10, in order to conduct the cartridges through this stock to the barrel of the pistol. The conduit 12, however, difi'ers from the magazine tube with which the pistol 10 iscommonly provided, in that it is somewhat longer than the ordinary magazine tube, as will be seen from Fig. 1 of the drawings and in that there is no spring within the conduit 12 for feeding tacle 11, in the manner hereinafter described.

The cartridge containing receptacle 11 is preferably constructed of sheet metal and has substantially the configuration of a relatively long rectangular box having an upper end 14, a lower end 15, a front Wall 16 and a cover 17 secured to the receptacle by hinges 18, as shown particularly in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The length ofthe receptacle 11 depends upon the number of cartridges 19 it is found desirable to store in the same, ready to be automatically fed to the pistol. The preferred means provided by me for automatically feeding the cartridges from the receptacle 11, through the conduit 12, to the pistol barrel, consists of an. endless belt 20, which passes around spaced spools or drums 21, 22, the belt being provided with a number of small L- shape clips or carriers 23 positioned to engage the cartridges 19 and to feed the same toward the lower or receiving end of the conduit 12, in a manner hereinafter pointed out. The spool or drum 22 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 22, one end of Which is supported by a bracket 22", and the other end of which may be supported by the front wall 16 of the receptacle. In order to retain the cartridges in their proper engagen'lent with the belt 20 and the clips 23 mounted thereupon, it is necessary to provide within the receptacle 11 a chamber or guideway to engage the opposite ends and one side of the cartridges. One element of this chamber or guideway consists of a thin plate 24 having substantially the configuration of the cover 17 of the container and which is spaced a short distance from the front wall of the container by short posts 25, as shown particularly in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the plate being so positioned that the forward ends or noses of the cartridges 19 will abut against the same and thereby prevent the cartridges from moving in a forward direction. Another portion of the guideway for the cartridges is formed by the spaced plates 26 and 27, which are rigidly secured to the (-over 17 and are spaced from the inner face of the same a short distance by the posts 28. Thesc plates 26 and 27 are so positioned that they abut against the rear ends of the cartridges when the cover 17 of the receptacle 11 is closed. The side of the chamber or guideway for the cartridges within the receptacle 11 is formed by a relatively long strip of metal 29 (see particularly Fig. 3) having a curved 11 per end 30 positioned to contact with one si e of the cartridges 19, as they pass around the upper drum 21. This strip then extends downwardly toward the bottom 15 of the container parallel to, and spaced a short distance from, a side wall of the receptacle 11, and then is curved around the lower drum 22 as at 31, and then extends upwardly in spaced relation to another side wall of the container and terminates a short I distance below the receiving end of the conduit 12, as indicated by 32. The portions of the endless belt 20, which are stretched between the drums 21 and 22, are prevented from sagging inwardly by the spaced parallel strips 33, which strips are retained in place by U-shape members, such as 34, rigily secured to the inner rear wall of the receptacle 11. From the construction of the chamber or guideway, so far described, for retaining the cartridges 19 in operative engagement with their endless belt, it will be seen that the cartridges are prevented from moving laterally by the strip 29, engaging one side of the same, and the strips 33, which reinforce the belt engaging the opposite side of the cartridges, and it will also be seen that the plate 24:, against which the noses of the cartridges abut, prevents the cartridges from moving endwise in one direction, and that the strips 26 and 27 upon the cover 17 prevent the cartridges from moving endwise in an opposite direction. In order to prevent the cartridges from moving endwise in a rearward direction as they pass around the drums 21 and 22, each of these drums is provided with a relatively large flange 35, formed upon one end thereof and positioned to engage the rear ends of the cartridges 19.

The power operating means for driving the endless belt 20, and thereby feeding the cartridges from the receptacle 11 to the pistol, consists preferably of a coiled spring for driving one of the drums or spools about which the endless belt passes. The driving means, which I have illustrated for this purpose, is preferably located Within a housing or casing 36, formed. upon the front face of the receptacle 11. The outer or front wall of the housing 36 has a drill hole formed centrally therein, in which one end of a shaft.37 is rotatably mounted. The other end of this shaft is rotatably mounted in a bracket 38 positioned adjacent the inner face of the cover or lid 17. This bracket is L-shape in construction and is rigidly secured to the inner face of the upper wall 14 of the receptacle, as shown more particularly in Fig. 5 of the drawing. A relatively long sleeve 39 is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 37 and upon this sleeve is mounted the drum or spool 21, which drum is rigidly secured to the sleeve by any desired means, such as a key 39, so that when the sleeve 39 is rotated upon the shaft 37, the spool 21 will be rotated. Within the housing 36 is mounted a spring drum or shell 40, which is rigidly secured to one end Of the sleeve 39. This shell 40 is driven by a coiled spring 41, the outer end of which is secured to the inner face of the drum 40 by rivets or the like 42 and the inner end of the coiled spring is rigidly secured to the shaft 37 by screws, or the equivalent, 43.

Upon the outer end of the shaft 37 is rig idly secured a wing nut 44, by means of which the shaft may be manually rotated. The shaft 37 is further provided with a ratchet wheel 45, rigidly mounted upon the same adjacent its outer end, and a pawl 46 is pivotally mounted upon the inner face of the housing 36 and is positioned to cooperate with the ratchet wheel 45. One end of the pawl 46 is positioned to extend through an opening formed in the casing, so that the same may be engaged by the fingers in order to swing the same out of operative engagement with its ratchet wheel.

The operation of the driving means for the' spool or drum' 21 is as follows: The spring 41 may be wound up by rotating the shaft 37 by means of the thumb nut 44, whereupon a rotating force will be applied to the drum 21, since the shell 40 is rigidly connected to this drum by the sleeve 39, and thereby drives the endless belt 20. The ratchet wheel 45 and awl 46 are provided to prevent the shaft 37 from rotating in an unwinding direction when the thumb nut 44 is released. The driving means, just described, is so constructed that it exerts a continuous drivingforce upon the endless belt 20, as long as the spring 41 is wound up, so that as soon as a cartridge is moved from the upper end of the conduit 12, the endless belt will move all of the cartridges forwardly sufliciently to bring a second cartridge in position to be moved from the upper end of the conduit. It will, therefore, be seen that the mechanism, so far described, will deliver all the cartridges in engagement with the endless belt to the conduit 12, so that all the cartridges within the receptacle 11 will be automatically fed to the pistol 10 by the mechanism, so far described, except the last few cart-ridges which will be stacked in the conduit 12, it being apparent that the driving means, so far described, will not do more than to feed the last cartridge in engagement withthe endless belt 20, toward the conduit 12 until it is moved out of engagement with the driving clip 23 engaging the same. In other words, it will be apparent that means other than the endless driving belt is necessary to force the cartridges within the conduit 12 upwardly to the barrel of the pistol after the last cartridge within the receptacle 11 has been started up this conduit by the endless belt 20.

The means which I have provided for feeding the last few cartridges through the conduit 12 to the upper end of the same consists preferably of a plunger, designated and 52. The object in providing the particular means disclosed in Fig. 7 for connecting the blocks 49 and 50 to the head 48 will be hereinafter described. The plunger 47 is constructed to normally lie in a chamber formed between the outer face of the portion 32 of the strip 29 and the inner face of onewall of the receptacle 11, as shown particularly in Fig. 3. The plunger, however, is normally forced toward the belt 20 by springs 53 and 54, and the upper end of the plunger is retained in its inoperative position by the cartridges against which it abuts. The construction is such that when the last cartridge in engagement with the endless belt 20 has been moved upwardly by the same beyond the head 48 of the plunger, the spring 53 will force the upper end of the plunger toward the belt and into the empty cartridge chamber or guideway, whereupon the head 48 will engage the clips 23 and will be moved upwardly thereby. The lower end of the plunger, it should be noted, is normally retained to one side of the cartridge chamber or guideway by the portion 29 of the strip 29, since the block 50 normally lies back of the portion 29, as shown in Fig. 3, but when the plunger 47 has been moved upwardly a slight distance, the block 50 will be disengaged from the member 29' and will thereupon be moved into the cartridge chamber or guideway by its spring 54. O viously that portion of the strip 29, which lies between the part indicated by the numeral 29 and the upper end of the same designated by the numeral 32, must be partly cutaway, as indicated by 55 and 56, to permit the plunger to move past the same into the cartridge guideway. By reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that the conduit 12 extends upwardly in an inclined direction, the angle which the conduit 12 makes with the front and rear faces of the receptacle 11 being such that when the pistol 10 is supported in a horizontal plane, as shown in Fig. 1, the receptacle ll will be supported in substantially a vertical plane, as shown, in this figure. It will, therefore, be seen that as the cartridges are fed from the receptacle 11 to the conduit 12, they are shifted axially slightly, as shown in Fig. 2, and that the plunger 47 when forced upwardly within the conduit 12, will have its upper end accordingly shifted. In order to permit the head 48 of the plunger to readily follow the cartridges up their inclined path Within the conduit 12', I have provided the connection between the head 48 and blocks 49 and 50, illustrated in Fig. 7. The strip 51 has its lower end rigidly secured to the block 49 and its upper end pivotally secured to the head 48 by a pin or the like 57 and the strip 52 has its lower end rigidly secured to the block 50 and its upper end pivotally secured to the head 48 by a pin 58, the strip 52 being constructed to pass through an opening 59 formed through the block 49. The blocks 49 and 50 are provided to engage the clips 23 upon the endless belt' 20. These clips, it should be noted, are spaced apart sufliciently to permit the bars 51 and 52 to lie therebetween, and the object in providing two blocks 49 and 50, instead of one block, is to prevent the entire weight of the plunger 47 and the cartridges fed upwardly thereby from being carried upon one pair of clips 23; in other words, the block 49 is adapted to enga 'e one pair of clips 23, and the block 50 another pair. Since, as above pointed out, it is necessary to cut away the strip 32 sufficiently to permit the plunger 47 to pass the same when it moves from its inoperative to its operative position, I have provided the plates 60 upon the cover 17, to engage the lateral faces of the cartridges adjacent the butts of the same, and thereby assist in preventing them from moving away from their belt.

The conduit 12 is preferably removably secured to the cartridge containing receptacle 11, in order that when my cartridge feeding device is not attached to a pistol, the conduit 12 may be removed from the upper end of the receptacle l1 and stored inside of this receptacle in the space formed between the spaced plates 33. The means which I have disclosed for removably securing the conduit to its receptacle, consists of what is known as a telescopic connection between the lower end of the conduit and a tubular construction 61 formed upon the inner face of the wall 14 and projecting inwardly therefrom, as shown in Fig. 3. The tubular extension, just mentioned, is provided with a relatively long side 62, which extends downwardly within the receptacle 11 to a short distance from the normal position of the head 48 of theplunger, and the opposite wall 63 of this tubular member 61, is shorter than the wall 62, and extends downwardly suificient to prevent the cartridges from passing between it and the periphery of the drum 21, the wall 63 having its lower end cut away to clear the spaced clips 23. If it is found desirable to disconnect the conduit 12 from its receptacle 11, when both the conduit and receptacle are filled with cartridges, it will be apparent that some means should be provided for preventing the cartridges from escaping from the lower end of the conduit and also from the upper end of the tubular construction 61. For this purpose, I provide two sliding plates 64 and 65 (see particularly Fig. 6). The plate 64 is slidably mounted in the lower end of the conduit 12, and is constructed to be moved from its inoperative position, shown in Fig. 3, to its operative position, shown in Fig. 6, by mechanism hereinafter described. The plate 65 operates similarly to the plate 64, but the former is slidably mounted upon the tubular member 61 and remains in place to close the upper end of the same when the conduit'12 has been disengaged therefrom. The lower end of the conduit 12 is provided with shoulders 66 and 67, which are positioned to abut against corresponding shoulders 68 and 69 formed upon the tubular member 61. Upon one side of the tubular member 61 is mounted a spring clip 70, the outer end of which is positioned to snap into engagement with the shoulder 66 in order to prevent the conduit 12 from being disengaged accidentally from its receptacle 11, and the shoulders 67 and 69 are preferably retained in engagement with each other by a hook or latch member 71, which is pivotally mounted upon the lug 67 and the lower end of which may be moved into gripping engagement with the under face of the shoulder 69 (as shown in Fig. 3). The latch member 71 is referably provided with an L-shaped member 72, pivotally secured to ,the same for operating the sliding plates 64 and 65, the arrangement being such that when the latch member is moved into engagement with the lug 69, the sliding plates will be moved to their inoperative position, (as shown in Fig. 3), but when the latch member 71 is moved out of engagement with the lug 69, the sliding plates 64 and 65 will be moved to their operative position, as shown in Fig. 6. The lower end of the conduit, which extends into the receptacle 11, has one wall thereof slotted, as at 73, to clear the lug 68, and the opposite wall is slotted, as at 74, to clear the sliding plate 65.

From the above description, when read in connection with the drawings, it will be seen that I have provided a cartridge feeding device of relatively large capacity, which is adapted to be applied to the types of automatic pistols now in use, and is intended to be used interchangeably with the magazine tube commonly provided to feed cartridges to the barrel of the type of pistol illustrated in Fig. l of the drawing. When it is desired to increase the number of cartridges that may be automatically fired from the type of pistol, shown in Fig. 1, without stopping to reload the same, all that isnecessary is to remove the magazine tube from the stock 13 of this pistol and insert in place thereof the conduit 12, which may be secured within the stock 13, by any desired means. Assuming that both the receptacle 11 and conduit 12 have been filled with cartridges, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, and that the spring 41 within the housing 36 has been wound up, the device, herein disclosed, will automatically feed to the upper end of the conduit 12 all of the cartridges contained both within the receptacle and the conduit, as fast as they are removed from the upper end of the conduit.

Although I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention as applied to an automatic pistol, it will be apparent that my cartridge feeding device is well adapted to be applied to the well known type of automatic rifle which is provided with a car tridge receiving container positioned below the barrel of the same. I have, therefore, shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings a fragmentary view of a rifle having a modification of my cartridge feeding device applied thereto. Since the cartridges used in the type of rifle indicated in Fig. 8 of the drawing are longer than the cartridges used in the pistol 10, the conduit 12', shown in this figure, will necessarily be wider than the conduit 12, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the receptacle 11' will be wider than the receptacle 11, but these are substantiall the only changes that need be made in my evice in order to apply the same to an automatic rifle.

Various changes may obviously be made in the device herein described without departing from the scope of my invention, as defined in the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

-1. In a device for feeding cartridges to a fire-arm, a cartridge containing receptacle, a conduit secured to the upper end of said receptacle for delivering cartridgesto the barrel of said fire-arm, a spring-operated conveyer within said receptacle for delivering cartridges to the lower end of said conduit whereby each cartridge is moved upwardly within said conduit by the cartridge immediately below it, and a plunger operated by said conveyer for feeding the last cartridge upwardly through said conduit after the same has been moved out of engagement with said conveyer, said plunger constructed to be retained in its inoperative position by the cartridges in engagement with said conveyer. V

2. In a device for feeding cartridges to a fire-arm, a cartridge containing receptacle, from said receptacle to the barrel of the fire-arm, a belt conveyer within said receptacle for delivering cartridges to saidconduit, and a plunger operated by said conveyer for forcing the last cartridge through said conduit.

3. In a device for supplying cartridges to a fire-arm, a cartridge containing recep tacle, a conduit secured to said receptacle for delivering cartridges therefrom to the barrel of said fire-arm, and a conveyer with a conduit for delivering cartrldgesr in said receptacle for delivering the cartridges to said conduit, comprising an endless belt having cartridge engaging means for supporting a plurality of cartridges with their noses pointing in the general direction of the barrel of said fire-arm, and lspring operated drum for driving said 4. In combination with an automatic firearm having. a magazine chamber, a cartridge containing receptacle removably secured to said fire-arm below said chamber, and means within said receptacle for automatically feeding cartridges therefrom to the barrel of said fire-arm, including a spring operated belt and a cartridge engaging plunger operated thereby.

5-. In a device for feeding cartridges to a fire-arm, a conduit, a cartridge containing receptacle secured to said conduit, said receptacle constructed with a relatively large clearance space therein, and means within saidv receptacle for feeding cartridges therefrom through said conduit, said conduit removably secured to said receptacle, whereby it may be disconnected from the receptacle and stored within the same in said clearance space. a

6. In a device for feeding cartridges to a fire-arm, a conduit, a cartridge containing receptacle removably connected to said conduit, means within said receptacle for feeding cartridges therefrom through said conduit, and sliding plates for preventing cartridges from escaping from the communicating passage way within said conduit and receptacle when the conduit is disconnected from the receptacle.

7. In a device for feeding cartridges to a fire-arm, a cartridge containing receptacle removably secured to said fire-arm, a cartridge feeding belt for feeding cartridges from said receptacle to .said fire-armj, a'

spring motor for driving said belt, and manually operable means for relieving said belt from the tension of said spring.

8. In a device for feeding cartridges to a fire-arm, a cartridge containing receptacle, a conduit for delivering cartridges from said receptacle to the barrel of the fire-arm, a belt conveyer within said receptacle for delivering cartridges to said conduit, cartridge engaging clips upon said belt, a plunger operated by said clips to feed the last cartridge through said conduit, and means for automatically moving said plunger into operative engagement with said clips.

9. In a device for feeding cartridges to a fire-arm, a cartridge containing receptacle,

a spring operated conveyer for feeding cartridges from said receptacle, a conduit removably attached to said'receptacle to receive the cartridges from said conveyer,

means for preventing the escape of the cartridges from said conduit and said receptacle when said. conduit and said conveyer are disconnected, means provided for storing said conduit Within said receptacle when said conduit is in the inoperative position, and means for replenishing said receptacle with cartridges Without removing said receptacle from its operative position. 10

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand on the 2d day of January, 1919.

BERNARD B. MULVE Y. 

